Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State: What do we need to do to restart?

By Rev. Dr. Wilguymps Charles

This book written by Rev. Dr. Wilguymps Charles is a citizen effort aiming to raise awareness among fellow Haitians in order to make them realize that the country can no longer continue to sink into this abyss; to recognize the urgency of divorcing ourselves from the irresponsible and selfish practices of the past that prevent us from progressing, and to seek together everything that can contribute to its recovery and emergence towards sustainable socio-economic development.

The author is a family man and Pastor of a church for more than thirty years. He has also written on five other religious topics in French and English, including ten books in total. The author firmly believes as a Haitian citizen Christian with heavenly aspiration, but he still has his feet on the ground that he must get involved in the affairs of his country with the aim of making its contribution to the reconstruction of the nation, since he is concerned and affected like every other fellow Haitians by everything that is happening in Haiti. With this in mind, he offers in this book, "Haiti, a dysfunctional nation-state: What do we need to do to restart?", a reliable alternative to relaunch the country towards the path of progress and change. Through the pages of this book, the author calls on every Haitian to collaborate to face this challenge courageously. May the reading of this book allow everyone to realize Haiti’s potential to develop!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369420775

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Copyright © 2024 by Rev. Dr. Wilguymps Charles.

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Rev. date: 04/26/2024

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1  The Genesis of the Haitian State

Chapter 2  From Glory to Drift

Chapter 3  The U.S. Occupation and Its Impacts

Chapter 4  The Duvalier Dictatorial Period

Chapter 5  The post-Duvalierian Era

Chapter 6  Haiti, its natural and mineral resources

Chapter 7  The Impact of NGOs and the United Nations in Haiti

Chapter 8  A paradigm shift for a new beginning

DEDICATION

First of all, I want to thank the Almighty for granting me the privilege of writing this book. My deepest gratitude goes to my family, and especially to my wife Jusleine and my daughter Joanne Charles, for their support and patience during the drafting of this document. I thank Rev. Dr. Wallière Pierre who encouraged me a lot to carry out this work. I decided not to continue writing anymore because I thought that it was not profitable to continue to do so, but Dr. Wallière convinced me to think differently. Also, I would like to thank Rev. Paul Daniel, who also encouraged me to continue to write.

I express my gratitude to the members of the Evangelical Baptist Church of the Redeemed, the congregation that I lead as pastor, for their prayers. This book is also dedicated to all my relatives and friends.

Haiti, a dysfunctional nation-state: What do we need to do to restart? dedicated to Rev. Molège Clavéus, Rev. Dr. Wallière Pierre and Rev. Paul Daniel, all of them writers. I also dedicate it to all my fellow Pastors and to Haiti: Literary project from 2024-2030.

Finally, this book is dedicated to all my fellow Haitian who suffer from seeing the continuous degradation of the country in all areas. May reading this book bring hope to the hearts of each of you so that you realize that all is not lost!

FOREWORD

Dear readers, the author of this book: "Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State: What do we need to do to restart?", Rev. Dr. Wilguymps Charles is a Pastor of the Church and the author of several other works of a religious nature. As a Haitian citizen and Christian, aware of and concerned about the problems of my country, and concerned about the socio-economic well-being of the Haitian people, I raise my voice to make my cry heard. It is the country’s problematic that pushed me to undertake the writing of this book, which is the result of research carried out in order to learn about the probable causes of this dysfunction, starting from the insurrectional movement that led to the independence of Haiti, to the period after Jovenel Moïse. According to my observation, I come to the conclusion that Haiti is a very badly governed Nation-State. It is a failed State, a State in decay, as many scholars prove.

In addition to my research, this book is enriched by my personal knowledge. I realized that I could share my perspective with anyone interested in knowing the root causes of Haiti’s dysfunction and what needs to be done to make it work. I know that there are many well-known authors who have already written books on the problem of Haiti, but this book is quite special in terms of its content, in terms of the various problems that the Haitian State has faced for centuries of history. As an avid reader, I recognized that there are not many books that present the situation in Haiti as it is. It is a work of academic significance useful not only for the scientific community, but also for anyone wishing to learn about the history of the Republic of Haiti. This book is also for all those who are aware that something needs to be done to get this country back to functioning normally like all other emerging and developed countries.

In my book, I revisit the genesis of the founding of the Haitian state to try to find an antecedent to this dysfunction of the State. I explain from a geopolitical point of view how from the outset the situation had taken an unfavorable turn for the young State. President Thomas Jefferson had decided that trade relations with Haiti risked alienating objective allies in the Atlantic world. As a result, on February 20, 1806, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed an embargo prohibiting all trade with Haiti. I speak of the death of the founding father of the nation. I also talk, succinctly, about the drift that followed the glorious moments of our history, from 1806 to 2024. In Chapter 3, I discuss the U.S. occupation and its impact on the country. In Chapters 4 and 5 of the book, I talk about the dictatorial period of the Duvalier, and also about the post-Duvalierian era. In Chapter 6, I present a panoramic picture of Haiti’s natural and mineral resources. Thanks to its natural and mineral resources, Haiti should be self-sufficient for its sustainable socio-economic development. In Chapter 7, I discuss the impacts of NGOs and UN missions in Haiti. Finally, Chapter 8 deals with the means and methods of restarting the Haitian State.

In this book, I present in concrete terms all that needs to be done, as well as the essential steps to be taken to pull the country out of this abyss if political leaders and government authorities have the will to act on the advice given. "Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State: What do we need to do to restart?" is a book that I recommend to anyone who wants to learn about the history of Haiti that is both fascinating and mind-boggling, but in particular, I recommend it to all the sons and daughters of the Haitian nation.

Finally, I say a big thank you to my family for supporting me throughout the writing of this book. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Wallière Pierre. I also express my deep gratitude to Rev. Joël Loquet for the advice provided. A special thank you also to all those who encourage me in this process.

Rev. Dr. Wilguymps CHARLES.

PREFACE

Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State: What do we need to do to restart?

This is a book that is also in line with the luminaries who have agreed to reflect on the multidimensional problems of the Haitian State. I don’t want the title of this book, followed by this pertinent question, to be given the change. With the choice of the controversial concept of Nation-State in its semantic aspect, the Author fully measures the stakes of its involvement for a so-called scientific and/or objective reflection. Already, it must be emphasized, the weight of the analyses carried out separately over time on these two notions leaves indelible traces in the construction of arguments for the scientific community.

Wilguymps CHARLES, Pastor, Historian and Writer, committing himself to this approach from the outset is an opportunity to show a clear and unambiguous stance of his political and historical thought. Thus, the epithet dysfunctional does not evoke the fallacious embellishments of the imagination but announces the essence and value of the content.

Through this book, Dr. CHARLES makes it his duty to tell us about the tragedy of a dysfunctional nation-state. To do this, it wants to present the events in which stateless people or irresponsible leaders have really been the main actors so far. All the efforts of this wise author are directed towards the origin of various problems that constitute the basis of the deleterious situation of the Haitian State. In his view, it was inconceivable that this situation would continue.

Through his expertise in history and political science, he shows that the dysfunction of the Haitian Nation-State is a concrete and palpable reality. Hence the scruples he manifests and the care with which he enumerates some elements of this crucial problem. Reading through his book, it is easy to distinguish the respective value of the stories he uses and his concerns about the descent into hell of this state with such a glorious past.

Moreover, the essence of this work, composed of at least eight (8) chapters, is the incredulity, the possible doubts that the Author seeks in a direct or indirect way to prevent them. Therefore, I warn you that reading this book can bring about a big change in the understanding of what a nation-state is and what it should be in reality. The author leaves no room for conceiving of his work as a collection of cautionary tales or fabulous tales. Similarly, one should not expect to find a text written under the influence of emotion either. Dr. CHARLES is concise and precise in his reflections. He gives the opportunity to discern through his book the consequences of dysfunctional elements for the good development of the Republic of Haiti.

In short, Dr. CHARLES wants this book to make room for the lament of our chronic problems at the very foundation of the country and for the proposal of credible and SMART resorption measures.

Dr. Wallière PIERRE, writer, sociologist, pastor, teacher, superintendent, of the central district of the Church of the Nazarene of Haiti, member of the theological commission of the FPH (PROTESTANT FEDERATION OF HAITI), lecturer and preacher of the Gospel.

INTRODUCTION

"Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State : What do we need to restart? is a book that has both a political and historical characteristics that tries to display the origin of various problems that are at the root of this dysfunction of the Haitian State and suggest what needs to be done to remedy this situation. In this introduction, I will try to find a correct definition of the term Nation-State and then list some elements of this dysfunction. The State" is a political society resulting from the fixation, on a territory delimited by borders, of a human group with more or less marked characteristics of cultural homogeneity and governed by an institutionalized power. The State sometimes refers to a centralized mode of political organization, sometimes to the institutions of this organization that impose and enforce the rules. From an organizational point of view, it is a centralized form of organization that society uses to orient and manage itself. The constituent elements of the State are a government, a territory, a population with a common history. The State is the largest legal entity. The State is sovereign and is its own insurer.

For its part, the word "Nation" is defined as follows: Ethnicity, people, human community that possesses a more or less strong historical, linguistic, cultural and economic unity. It is therefore a human community that recognizes common cultural or ethnic traits in the name of which it wishes to constitute a sovereign political entity. It is also a political community established on a defined territory and personified by a sovereign authority. A Nation is a fairly large human group, which is characterized by the consciousness of its unity and the will to live in common. A Nation can also encompass several ethnicities. This is now the case, for example, with Turkey.

A Nation is a large type of social organization where a collective identity has emerged from a combination of characteristics shared within a given population. A Nation may not have a State. Indeed, some stateless Nations do have a territory, a population, and a sense of identity of their own, but do not have a political organization that can ensure their full sovereignty. Examples include the Quebec population, which is recognized by Canada as a Nation within the Canadian State, the Berber populations of North Africa, and the Catalan population, which currently has the status of "historical community in Spain and has been denied the status of a nation" in its own right by the Spanish Constitutional Council.

A State may encompass several nations. This was the case with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as it is today with the United Kingdom with four constituent nations such as: English, Welsh, Scots and Northern Irish. A State may also encompass several linguistic and cultural communities. The state is a political entity with territory and government, while the Nation is a group of people sharing a history, culture, and economy. But a Nation-State, as the title of the book puts it, is a special type of State in which individuals are supposed to belong in their majority to the same Nation. It is therefore based on the coincidence between a notion of identity order, i.e., individuals who consider themselves linked to each other by their membership, and a notion of legal order, which is the existence of a form of sovereignty and political and administrative institutions that exercise the State.

According to a definition by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the Nation-State is a field in which cultural borders merge with political boundaries. The ideal of the Nation-State is that the State incorporates people of the same ethnic and cultural basis. However, most states are polyethnic. Thus, the Nation-State "would exist if almost all the members of a single Nation were organized into a single State, with no other national communities present. Although the term is often used, such entities do not exist". According to this organization, the Nation as we think of it today is a product of the 19th century. Since modern times, the Nation has been recognized as the political community that ensures the legitimacy of a State within its territory, and that transforms the State into a State of all citizens. The notion of the Nation-State emphasizes this new alliance between nation and state. Nationality is supposed to bind the citizen to the State and to the benefits of the State’s social policies. In some countries, the birth of the State preceded that of the Nation; in this case, nationalist sentiment develops after the formation of the State. In others, the fact of recognizing oneself